# Greatest American elimination game (game thread) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 10, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423 "2010-02-10T15:08:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 24
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/462 "2010-03-10T18:12:39Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > George Washington. > > Great, yes, but I have always felt that his status as first president makes him seem even greater than he actually was. Also I am in the mood to make things a little more interesting. That you are, ma’am. Martin Luther King, Jr. As I stated above, in popular perception, King is as much a metonym as he is a man. He is a symbol of a great push for decency in a time of abject depravity. Though his work was extensive, I would argue that many if not most of the advancements in civil society after World War II would have happened with or without his influence. King was not a factor in Brown v. Board of Education. King was not a factor in Executive Orders 10479 and 10590. King was not a factor in the massive consciousness raising that accompanied the integration of major sports. (Yes, I’m still grousing about Jackie Robinson, who I feel should still be in this game.) King was a great exponent of the most profound movement of his day. He was not the Greatest American. If you’d told me 25 years ago, when I had a poster of King above my bed, that I would be typing these words today, I would not believe you. Nevertheless, critical thinking must trump dogmatism. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/463 "2010-03-10T18:35:26Z")
Thomas Edison. A brilliant inventor in his own right, he also headed a massive corporation late in life and profited from - and took credit for - the hard work of his many underlings. To many of them, he was a jerk. Out he goes. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/464 "2010-03-10T19:01:53Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > George Washington. But he was _twenty feet tall and made of radiation!_ > [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > I’m of two minds: on the one hand, I wish we had more scientists, inventors, and maybe even a writer or two in our final ten, and fewer politicians and activists. I think that as we close in on the idea of the “greatest” American, we are forced to contemplate what constitutes greatness in the American narrative. Despite its hackneyed overuse, freedom is still a powerful word to Americans; as close to a holy word as our civil discourse has. Accordingly, the final list is weighted inevitably toward those who have freed others or been instrumental in extending and codifying freedom, and less toward vaccines and light bulbs. > [@StusBlues](#): > > Though \ work was extensive, I would argue that many if not most of the advancements in civil society after World War II would have happened with or without his influence. King was not a factor in Brown v. Board of Education. King was not a factor in Executive Orders 10479 and 10590. King was not a factor in the massive consciousness raising that accompanied the integration of major sports. I always thought that what was critical about King’s contribution was not so much that he drove the advances to happen, as that he guided them toward a peaceable resolution. It seemed possible that anger (justified though it was) and impatience (a hundred years of waiting for the promise of the 14th Amendment to be fulfilled!) would taint the movement with militancy and violence, creating resentments that would make America a very unhappy place for a very long time, if not leading to outright civil conflict. [The reaction to his death](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Washington,_D.C._riots) gave us a taste of what his moderating influence may have prevented from happening on a larger scale. After all that, I will continue to try and pick off **Thomas Edison** I just see a lot of his work as refinements/improvements/working versions of things that lots of people were working on. I know the same exact claim can be made about the Wrights, but in a time when everyone else was just trying to get into the air, their vision went beyond that; they recognized control was every bit as important, and they didn’t just get us into the air, they gave us command of it. Also, while Edison’ business ventures represent a very American way of organizing talent and directing it productively, the Wright brothers represent a competing and no less mythic American vision of dedicated, obsessed amateur tinkerers working in private. I find their individualism charming in a way that Edison’s “system” is not. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/465 "2010-03-10T19:36:00Z")
I’ll join the Edison movement. I think he was more important than the Wright brothers but he was also a bigger ass and that should have disqualified him from making it to top 10 anyway. **Thomas Edison** ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/466 "2010-03-10T20:06:53Z")
I’m sticking with my vote for the **Wright brothers**. Important, yes, but less so than anyone else on the list. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/467 "2010-03-10T21:00:31Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > But he was _twenty feet tall and made of radiation!_. For anyone else who was as clueless as I was: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ex2hj5rLN48/hqdefault.jpg "George Washington") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex2hj5rLN48) ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/468 "2010-03-10T21:24:14Z")
Orville and Wilbur Wright. I agree with the idea that the finalists shouldn’t be all political and/or military figures – indeed, when I participated in a similar poll several years ago, I included Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie in my top five. However, the Wrights suffer from the fact that their accomplishments were pretty much limited to aviation, while Edison’s stamp was impressed on home illumination, sound recording, motion pictures, fluoroscopy, and more, not to mention the distribution of the power required for these devices and processes to operate. Also, Orville and Wilbur are inevitably linked, and the idea of the game is to find the individual most deserving of the Greatest American mantle. So off the Wrights go into the wild blue yonder… ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/469 "2010-03-10T22:08:03Z")
Susan B. Anthony. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/470 "2010-03-10T22:14:17Z")
> [@ToeJam](#): > > Susan B. Anthony. Because…? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/471 "2010-03-10T23:06:57Z")
Orville and Wilbur Wright. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/472 "2010-03-10T23:28:48Z")
Susan b. Anthony because I don’t she is a great as the others on the list. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/473 "2010-03-11T00:25:32Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > But he was _twenty feet tall and made of radiation!_ > [@StusBlues](#): > > For anyone else who was as clueless as I was: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex2hj5rLN48](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex2hj5rLN48) Gah, I misremembered – _twelve stories_ tall and made of radiation! Obviously I need to brush up on my Washington scholarship. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/474 "2010-03-11T03:40:46Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Because…? I like the Wright Brothers more? :dubious: It’s a pretty stacked list, no matter what. I say Susie’s got to go. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/475 "2010-03-11T10:31:07Z")
As they say, two Wrights don’t make a…wrong…wait, that didn’t work out the way I intended. Anyhoo - I’m voting out **Orville and Wilbur Wright**. They were great, but playing in a different league to the others on the list. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/476 "2010-03-11T14:44:45Z")
Franklin D. Roosevelt. The list is Pres-heavy, and he’s my least preferred of the remaining Presidents. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/477 "2010-03-11T17:16:49Z")
Here are the top ten Greatest Americans according to the AOL/Discovery Channel contest in 2005, BTW: 1. Ronald Reagan 2. Abraham Lincoln 3. Martin Luther King, Jr. 4. George Washington 5. Benjamin Franklin 6. George W. Bush 7. Bill Clinton 8. Elvis Presley 9. Oprah Winfrey 10. Franklin D. Roosevelt Their voters apparently had… uh… slightly different priorities. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/478 "2010-03-11T17:43:58Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Here are the top ten Greatest Americans according to the AOL/Discovery Channel contest in 2005, BTW: > > 1. Ronald Reagan > 2. Abraham Lincoln > 3. Martin Luther King, Jr. > 4. George Washington > 5. Benjamin Franklin > 6. George W. Bush > 7. Bill Clinton > 8. Elvis Presley > 9. Oprah Winfrey > 10. Franklin D. Roosevelt > > Their voters apparently had… uh… slightly different priorities. To be fair, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Winfrey weren’t eligible for this contest; of the six who were eligible only one isn’t in our top ten.😉 ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/479 "2010-03-11T18:24:34Z")
There’s not a single embarrassing candidate in the top ten. But since we have to start eliminating worthy people… Sorry,\*\* Frederick Douglass \*\*just doesn’t measure up to the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/480 "2010-03-11T18:28:56Z")
Standings: Wrights 5 Edison 3 Anthony 2 King, Washington (he saves children, but not the British children), FDR, Douglass 1 each ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-game-thread/528423/481 "2010-03-12T00:33:59Z")
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